Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving data over a mesh network using Bluetooth, that is, a short distance technology, in a wireless communication system and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for configuring nodes performing a relay function for data transmission and reception through a flooding method over a Bluetooth mesh network.
Discussion of the Related Art
Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that can wirelessly connect various types of devices and allows them to exchange data over short distances. To enable wireless communication between two devices using Bluetooth communication, a user has to perform the process of discovering a Bluetooth device to communicate with and making a connection request. As used herein, the term “device” refers to an appliance or equipment.
In this case, the user may discover a Bluetooth device according to a Bluetooth communication method intended to be used using the Bluetooth device, and may subsequently perform a connection.
The Bluetooth communication method may be classified as a BR/EDR method and an LE method. The BR/EDR method may also be called Bluetooth Classic. The Bluetooth Classic method includes a Bluetooth technology led from Bluetooth 1.0 and a Bluetooth technology using an enhanced data rate (EDR) supported by Bluetooth 2.0 or a subsequent version.
A Bluetooth low energy (LE) technology applied, starting from Bluetooth 4.0, may stably provide information of hundreds of kilobytes (KB) at low power consumption. Such a Bluetooth LE technology allows devices to exchange information with each other using an attribute protocol. The Bluetooth LE method can reduce energy consumption by reducing overhead of a header and simplifying an operation.
Some of Bluetooth device products do not have a display or a user interface. In various types of Bluetooth devices and Bluetooth devices using similar technologies, the complexity of a connection, management, control, and a disconnection has increased.
Bluetooth supports a high speed with relatively low power consumption and at a relatively low cost. However, Bluetooth is appropriately used within a limited space because it has a maximum transmission distance of 100 m.